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OE^TTOIS^ 



Hex. THOMAS J. MACKEY, 






Ol" SOI TH CA1U:)1.1XA. 



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!sij(jCT^K,'i'««>";t>.i 



Reunion of Veterans of the Mexican War, 



IN WASIII>sG; i ON CITY 



December 6, 7 and 8, 



Gray & Clarkmin, Fkinteks, 
Globe Office, 339 Pennsylvania Avenue. 

I S84. 






U S ^leol Snrvey 



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ORATION 



HON. THOMAS J. MACKEY, 

Of South. Carolina. 

[Extract from the Official Proceedings published in Thk Vedbtte of December 21, 1883.] 



The beautiful scene presented under the 
gas-light by the tasteful display of banners, 
plants, elegantly dressed ladies and gentlemen, 
who had been invited by the executive corat 
mittee of arrangements, reflected great credi- 
upon Mr. Abner and the committee on deco- 
rations. The most perfect order prevailed. The 
music, under management of Comrade Pros- 
peri, was excellent. 

On the platform were seated President J. 
W. Denver, of Ohio. ; 1st Vice-President, M. 

D. Manson, of Ind. ; Gen. Albert Pike 
and Gen. T. T. Crittenden, V. P's. for the Dis- 
trict of Columbia; Gen. W. S. Rosecrans, 
Gen. Horace Brooks, and Secretary A. M. 
Kenaday, the three last named being specially 
requested to represent the California veterans ; 
Marshall A. H. Reynolds, Col. Robert Klotz, 
Geu. E. L. Dana, J. E. Arthur, John Kritzer, 
Wm. Kerlin, and Hugh Kerr, of Penn. ; Gen. 
James Cravens, S. L. McFadin, and Col. 0. 
P. H. Cary, of Ind. ; A. J. Robertson, John 
Conwell, George Mason, and Col. J. F, Chap- 
man, of Ohio ; Gen. Daniel Ruggles, Gen. W. 
B. Taliaferro, Capt. J. F. Milliganand Osmond 
Peters, of Va. ; Col. G. A. Porterfield, and 
M. L. Dorn, of W. Va. ; Senator John A. Lo- 
gan, Hon. W. R. Morrison, Maj. S. P. Tufts, 
Col. Andrew F. Rodgers, J. W. Wilbanks, and 
Dr. J. W. Slade, of 111. ; Henry A. McGlenen 
and T. Knower, of Mass. ; Gen. N. P. Viall and 
B. B. Manchester, of R. I. ; Maj. H. Gaines, 
Col. J. M. Turner, J. R. Riley, and Gen. J. 

E. Kerrigan, of N. Y. ; Capt. John McGowan, 
and F. D. Clark, of N. J. ; Maj. A. J. Dorn, 



Daniel Murphy, and W. H. Sibley, of Texas ; 
Gen. A. H. Colquitt and Gen. J. S. Long- 
street, of Ga. ; John L. Cantwell, of N. C. ; 
Col. W. B. Stanley, T. J. Mackey, J. D. 
Blanding, K. G. Billings, Zach. Canty, R. 'J. 
Gladney, W. B. Lomax, Thomas Beggs, and 
G. W. Curtis, of S. C. ; F. M. Chrisman, of 
Ark. ; Capt. Geo. V. Hebb, of Ala. ; Col. 
James Walker, the artist whose "Battle of 
Chapultepec" adorns the Senate gallery of the 
United States ; C. P. Wood, of Mich. ; Col. 
J. C. McGinnis and A. B. Pearson, of St. 
Louis, Mo.; Senator John S. Williams, A. J. 
Morey, and Col. J. G. Craddock, of Ky. ; 
Treasurer Samuel V. Niles. Lieut. 16th Inf. ; 
Maj. -Gens. Stewart Van Vliet, J. J. Rey- 
nolds, William H. Emory, Peter V, Hagner, 
Adjt.-Gen. R. H. Drum, Gen. Thomas Dun- 
can, Gen. B. Alvord, Gen. B. H. Hill, Gen. 
James Oakes, Gen. H. J. Hunt, Col. Alex. 
Montgomery, Col. A. J. Dallas, Col. James 
Belger, Col. Geo. D. Patten, Capt. J. S. Gar- 
land, Capt. Ed. AUsworth, and others of the 
U. S. Army ; Capt. Louis S. Gelaii, of Col. ; 
Capt. John G. Fury, Capt. Wm. A. Barnes, 
Louis F. Beeler, and Wm. Williams, of Bal- 
timore ; J. W. Branson, A. J. Brock, and W. 
H, Porter, of Tenn. ; A. H. Parker, R. R. 
Wilson, and Martin Costello, of New Orleans, 
La. ; J. M. Hefley and John B. Bothwell", of 
Iowa; E. Welter, of Wis. ; Rear-Adm. A. 
Ludlow Case, and Wm. Rogers Taylor, U. S. 
N. ; Gen. Edward F. Beale and Thomas 
Young, formerly lieutenants in the Navy, and 
others. 



President Denver introduced Comrade 
Thomas J. Mackey as the chosen orator of the 
occasion, who was received with hearty greet- 
ings. 

THE ORATION. 

Mr. President and Comrades of the Mexi- 
can War : 

By your favor, I have been assigned the del- 
icate duty of reciting history in the presence 
of those wlio have acted history. In so doing, 
I shall violate the prudent counsel of a dislin- 
guished teacher of modern languages, who 
advised his scholars on graduating, always to 
speak their French among Germans, and their 
German among Frenchmen. 

The dust of more than a third of a century 
has gathered over the curtain that fell upon 
the last scene of that splendid drama in which 
you bore honorable parts on the stage of 
actual conflict. I can but lift, thai curtain for 
a brief moment, while we glance through the 
long vista of thirty-seven years upon scenes 
which to us are still living memories, while 
others must olean them from the historic page, 
or perchance, hear them recited at the house- 
hold aitar. where 

'The bmlien soldier kimlly baile to slay, 
Sits by his fire aud UiXVui the night away ; 
Weepso'er his wounds, or tales of sorrow clone, 
Shoalders his «rutcU and shows liow fields were won.-' 

The war with M<-x'00 had its origin in the 
act of Congress of January 10th, 1845, provid- 
ing for the annexation of Texas. The act was 
ratified by that republic July 4lh, 1845, and 
Texas thus became a State iu the American 
Union. 

She had already maintained her independ- 
ence for ten years against Mexico, the parent 
country, whose authority her people had re 
sisted with unequaled prowess and^ varying 
success on many fields of battle. The critic 
who questions the political morality of the act 
of annexation may be fully answered by refer- 
ring to the fact that both England and France 
had recognized the independence of the Re- 
public of Texas long before she applied for 
admission into our Union. 

Mexico resolved to nullify this act by force 
of arms. She asserted her title to Texas, and 
further claimed that the true western bound- 
ary of that State was the river Nueces, whereas 
the Texans claimed the country westward to 
the Rio Grande. In view of the aggressive 
attitude of Mexico, General Zachary Taylor,at 
the head of an army of about four thousand 
men, chiefly regulars, was ordered into the 
disputed territory, which he entered July 29lh, 
1845, establishing his camp at Corpus Christi. 



Early in 1846 he moved to the Rio Grande op- 
posite the city of Matamoras, Mexico. Here 
he built Fort Brown. On the 24ih of April, 
1846, Captain Thornton, with a company of 
the 2d Dragoons, was ordered up the river to 
reconnoiter. Befell into an ambuscade, and 
being surrounded by a force seven times 
stronger than his own, he was compelled to 
surrender, after a gallant resistance, havi/ig 
sixteen of his command killed on the field. 

Soon after this the Mexican forces attacked 
Fort Brown, and were handsomely repulsed. 
On May 8ih General Taylor, with 2,300 men, 
met and defeated the Mexican army, six thou- 
sand strong, under the command of General 
Arista, at Palo Alto. In this battle Colonel 
Charles May of the 2d Dragoons, as knightly a 
soldier as ever drew sword in battle, made his 
famous charge, capturing two baitf-ries of Mex- 
ican artillery and taking pritoner Mfijor- Gen- 
eral La Vega, a distinguished officer of the 
Mexican army. On the next day Arista, hav- 
ing been largely reinforced, made a stand a 
few miles distant from Palo Alto (the high 
plain,) at Resaca de la Palma (or the Ra- 
vine of Palms,) and was there again defeated 
by Taylor's army, the Mexican loss being 
1.000 and ours but 110. On May 18 Gen- 
eral Taylor crossed the Rio Grande and took 
possession of the city oi Matamoras. 

It is a noteworthy fact that these hostile op- 
erations were prosecuted and battles foiight 
without, any declaration of war on either side. 
In fact, there never was a formal declaration 
of war made by either nation. On May 28th, 
1846, Congress passed :i. resolution deelaring 
that war existed between the United States 
and Mexico, and further resolved that it should 
be prosecuted until we had attained " indeni- 
nity for the past and security for the future. 

As evidence of the temper of the minority 
of that d^y it should be stated that -during the 
debate upon the resolution a distinguished 
Senator (Thomas Corwin, of Ohio,) used the 
following language : 

'• If 1 were a' Mexican, as I am an Ameri- 
can, I would welcome the invaders of my 
country with bloody hands to hospitable 
graves !'' „ 

That unpatriotic utterance did not reflect 
the sentiment of the American people. Their 
thought was voiced in the cotemporary lines : 

'• Our country, right or wrong! 
What manly heart can doubt. 
That thus should swell the patriot soug, 
Thus ring the patriot sliout ? 

Be but the toe arrayed, 

And war's wild trumpet blown, 

Gold is the heart that hath not made 

Its country's cause its own '." 
In response to 'the call of President Polk for 
thirty thousand volunteers, 67,339 volunteered 
promptly, and were accepted by authority of 



Congress. They wei-f^ furnished by ihe re- 
spective States in the following muTibers: 

Massachusetts P3() Missis-sipiii 2,035 

New York l,CiiK) Louisiaua 7,3il 

New Jersey ..-. 4'.'0 Tennessee 5,a9'i 

Pennsylvania '2,117 Kentucky 4,694 

Maryland and Disu-icl Ohio 5,334 

otC.lumWa 1,'2V+ Michigan 1,072 

Virginia 1,18-2 Indiana 4,329 

North Carolina 895 Illinois 5,791 

South Carolina 1.120 Wisconsin 140 

Georgia 1,987 Iowa '2'29 

Alabama 2,981 Missouri 6,441 

Texas 7.392 Arkansas 1,372 

Mormons 578 Florida '289 

California 5n 

To ihese must be add<-d about, ten thousand 
regulars of the United States Army and twelve 
hundred marines, tnakii^g an aggregate of 
seventy-nine thousand, rank and file, consti- 
tuting that splendid army, charged with the 
duty, in connection with our grand old historic 
navy, of enforcing from Mexico indemnity for 
the past and security for the future. That de- 
mand history attests they translated into ac- 
tion. ^ 

It was not an easy task assigned that army 
and nav\ . 

The Republic of Mexico consisted of nine- 
teen State.*, having an aggregate population 
of nearly nine millions. She had a standing 
army of seventy thousand, and had called into 
the field an additional force of nearly two 
hundred thousand. Her soldiers were well 
equipped and magnificently uniformed. We 
could say of her. with literal truth, that her 
•'cohorts wete gleaming with purple and 
gold " 

Her coast defences were provided with good 
armaments and well manned, and her princi- 
pal seaport, Vera Cruz, was guarded by the 
castle of San Juan D'Ulloa, mounting four 
hundred gun.?, and one of the .strongest for 
tresses in the world. No country upon earth 
was better adapted by its topograpiiy for de- 
fensive warfare. 

And it had a formidable ally in the deadly 
climate of its coast, where the tropical sun, 
shining upon the ever-decaying massf s of rank 
vegetation, burns up the blood with fever, al- 
ternating with the icy noriher that in an hour 
will often vary the temperature from summer's 
heat to winter's /"old. 

1 hree line^ jf operation against Mexico 
were now deierniined on: 

1. General Taylor was to operate from 
Matamoras along the line of the Rio Grande. 

2. A column under General Kearny was 
to ccnquer the Mexican territorie.s of New 
Mexici) and California. 

3. A column under General Wool was to 
enter the tiorthern States of Mexico and con- 
quer Chihuahua. 

In pur.'Suance of this plan, General Taylor 
advanced upon the Mexican army, then in 
position at Monterey, September 5, 18-46. 

His army numbered G,6U0, and was com- 



posed of 3,200 regular troops— of the 1st, 3d, 
4ih, 5th, 7ih, and 8th Infantry, four compa- 
nies of the 2d Dragoons, five . batteries of 
artillery— and 3,400 volunteers, cotisisting of 
the first, regiments from Ohio, Kentucky, 
Mississippi, and Tennessee, two Texas regi 
menis, commanded by Brigadier-General Hen- 
derson, including Jack Hay's famous rangers, 
and one battalion from Maryland and the Dis- 
trict of Columbia. 

The Mexican force consisted of 7,000 regu- 
lars and 3, .500 volunteers, with an ample sup- 
ply of artillery, in strong works, covering 
every approach to the city. Their principal 
works were known as Forts Diabolo, Teneria, 
Soldado, Independence, the Bishop's Palace 
and the Citadel. 

Our army attacked in three divisions, com- 
mandtd by Generals Worth, Twiggs, and But- 
ler, of Kentucky. 

The enemy made a fierce and desperate 
resistance, raising the old Spanish war cry, of 
" War to the knife, and the knife to the hilt!" 
The firing was incessant from barricades in 
the streets, and from the windows and roofs 
of the dwellings, as our soldiers entered the 
city after carrying all the outer defences by 
assault. Our men had actually to dig their 
way through the walls of the houses in advanc- 
ing. The attack began on September 20th 
and ended on the 23d, with the surrender of 
the enemy. 

One who bore a gall int part in that most 
brilliant achievement wrote of it in a poem of 
the period — - 

" We were not many, we who stood 

Upon the battle-field that day ; 
But many a gallant spirit would 
Give liaU his life it he but could 

Have been with us at Monterey. 

Now here, now there, the shot it hailed 
In deailly wreaths of withering spray, 

But not a single soldier quailed, 
As charging where the strongest lay. 
We stormed the. heights of Monterey." 

Early in the following December al' of the 
regular infantry was withdrawn from General 
Taylor's army, and ordered to report to Major- 
General Winfield Scott, who had assumed 
command in person of the fourth great col- 
umn of invasion, whose objective point was the 
capital of Mexico, 

General Taylor's army was thus reduced to 

a force of only 4,500 inen of all aims, cotn- 

I posed altogether of volunteers, except three 

} batteries of the regular armj', and two squad- 

1 ronsofihe2d Dragoons. lis numerical weak- 

I ness invited attack, and General .Santa Anna, 

j the most renowned and skillful of the Mexican 

j commanders, accordingly moved his army 

against him. That army numbered, accord- 

I ing to the Mexican official reports, 23,400 

[ men, two-thirds of whom were regular troops. 

General Taylor selected a position admi- 

[rably adapted for defence at the Rancho of 



6 



Bue.»a V^'ista. The position was marked by 
narrow defiles, deep ravines and rugged and 
high r.ogos that commar ?d llie valley below. 

An -my dislodged from such a position by 
such foe is lost, and well each American 
soldie knew it. The battle began atdaylighi, 
on February 23, 1847, by the attack of tlie 
enem^ in force upon our left flank. That at- 
tack was handsomely r<-p\ilsed by the tire <>f 
the 2d Illinois Infantry and the Kentucky 
Cavalry, with Bragg's and Sherman's splen- 
didly served batteries, a battalion of the 2d 
and 3d Indiana riflemen, and a company of 
dismounted Arkansas cavalry. 

About 9 o'clock in the morning, another 
heavy column of Mexicans moved along the 
road against the centre of our position. This 
force was checked by the well directed tire of 
Washington's battery, and diverged to our left, 
where the enemy was concentrating for a deci- 
sive attack. The extreme leTt^of our li' e was 
posted on a high and broad plateau, and was 
composed of the 2d Indiana and 2d Illinois 
Infantry. The tremendous impact of that at- 
tack compelled those regiments to retire after 
sustaining tor some time a terrible cross fire 
of artillery and a heavy fire on their front by 
a greatly superior force of infantry. At that 
crisis of the battle the first Mississippi Rifles, 
commanded by Col. Jefferson Davis, doubt- 
less saved the day by the rapidity and ac- 
curacy of their tire, delivered against the 
advancing cavalry of the enemy, then exulting 
in the prospect of speedy victory. Most gal- 
lantly did he uphold the starry ensign of the 
Union, and for that, though his fortunes have 
foundered since, in grateful memory, for the 
flag's sake, we respectfully salute him now. 
The Mississippi Rifles were soon gallantly 
supported by the 3d Indiana, Isl Illinois, and 
2d Kentucky regiments, with a section of 
Bragg's famous battery, and the ground lost 
on our left flank was in great part recovered. 
At the base of the mouHtain the right flank of 
the enemy was held in check by the regular 
dragoons, and Indiana and Arkansas troops, 
and the destructive fire of our artillery, shat- 
tering that it might reach, aud reaching that 
it might shatter the dense lines of the enemy, 
of whose magnificent cavalry it may be said — 

The sheen of the spears was like stars on the sea, 
When the blue waves roll nightly on deep Gallilee. 

At that moment, when his attacking force 
had received a disastrous check, Gen. 
Santa Anna, with characteristic cunning, 
sent in a flag of truce, and our 
fire Was suspended. This expedient can- 
not be too much commended in the practice 
of the art of war, although all writers upon 
grand strategy have overlooked it in works 
upon military science. Whenever your at- 
tacking columns are about to be repulsed and 
shattered, hurry up a flag of truce and de- 



mand the surrender of yo\ir exultant enemy; 
and then, before he can recover from his as- 
tonishment at your sublime; impudence, re- 
form your broken columns, and retire with 
dignity under the shelter of the peaceful sym- 
bol. Santa Atma's demand for the surrender 
of Gen. Taylor's armv was promptly declined 
by "Old R >ugh and Ready,' without thanks. 

The battle was soon after renewed by the 
enemy who brought all his resi-rves into ac- 
tion. After a tremendous struggle they were 
again disastrously repulsed. The battle of 
twelve terrible hours hnd ended, and "'our flag 
was still t*^ ere !" Santa Anna retired rapidly 
wiih his army into the interior, only taking 
time to send off a bulletin to the capital, an- 
nouncing ihaihe had just won a "glorious vic- 
tory'' over the "Barbarians of the North, at 
Buena Vista." 

This victory ended in a blaze of glory the 
battle-record of the army of occupation un- 
der General Taylor. 

In the meantime, the army of the West, 
2,500 strong, under the command of General 
Stephen W. Kearny, had been reaping a rich 
harvest of laurels, winning victory after vic- 
tory against vast odds, and almost insurmount- 
able natural obstacles. 

By a rapid march from Fort Leavenworth to 
Santa Fe, a distance of 900 miles, in 35 days. 
New Mexico was taken possession of without 
firing a shot. Dividing his forces at Santa 
Fe, Gen. Kearny, with 1,500 dragoons, marched 
to California, defeated the enemy in a warm 
engagement at San Pasqual and formed a 
junction with the California rifle battalion 
and the marines and sailors from the squadron 
of the navy, under the command of Commo- 
dore Stockton, who had just succeeded the 
gallant Commodore Sloa', who had previously 
taken the California port of Monterey. 

Priorto thearrival of Gen. Kearny, however, 
that gallant soldier and untiring explorer, John 
C. Fremont, had hoisted the American Stan- 
dard in California. He was there under or- 
ders to ascertain a new route to Oregon fur 
ther south than that usually traveled by emi- 
grants. Upon learning, in May, 1S46, that 
the Mexican governor had ordered all Ameri- 
can settlers from that province, and had raised 
a force to expel them, he recruited a body of 
400 men, and defeated the Mexicans in several 
engagements in the valley of the Sacramento, 
before he had even heard that war existed be- 
tween the United States and Mexico, and un- 
der his leadership the Americans in California, 
united with many of the natives, had declared 
their independence of Mexico on the 5th day 
of July, 1846. 

On Nov. 13, 1846, Col. A. W. Dmiphan be- 
gan his famou-' march from Santa Fe to Saltillo, 
his force consisting of two batteries of Mis 
souri light artillery and nine hundred Mis- 
souri cavalry. A part of his command was 
attacked at Brazito, on Christmas day, 1846, 



by 1,400 Mexican troops, whom they defeated 
in twenty minutes. 

They again defeated the enemy on February 
28, 1847, at the battle of Sacramento, near the 
city of Chihuahua, and entered that important 
city triumphantly. On the next day, Doniphan 
started on his renowned march through the 
Northern States of Mexico back to Saltillo. 
He accomplished this march of 1,500 miles, 
winning victories as he went, in 40 days. This 
dims the lustre of the retreat of the ten 
thousand Greeks from the field of Cunaxa, 
so graphically narrated by Xenophon, their 
commander and histi.rian. While these events 
were in progress, Colonel Sterling Price, of 
Missouri, who had been left by Doniphan in 
command at Santa Fe, with a force of about 
500, consisting of the 2d Missouri Cavalry 
and a battery of artillery, with a company of 
New Mexicans, had been, as he always was, 
active and successful. 

On January 19, 1847, -Governor Charles 
Bent, with about thirty-five other Americans, 
were massacred in cold blood by Mexican 
troops, in Taos, and soon after a Mexican 
force of about two thousand cavalry appeared 
in the vicinity of Santa Fe. Price marched 
out, and after a desperate conflict defeated 
them at Canada, about 18 miles north of 
Santa Fe. The enemy fell back along the 
xoad to Taos. Our forces pursued them rap- 
idly and inflicted severe loss upon them ut El 
Rmbedo, where they made a brief stand, and 
finally, on the 4th of February, won a decisive 
victory over them at Taos, the scene of their 
recent brutal airocity. 

Changing the scene, on the 9th of March, 
1847, the army of Mexico, ui der command of 
•General Winfield Scott, that most regal ot 
American soldiers, never to be named by us, 
comrades but with uplifted hat, began its vic- 
torious movement for the ''Halls of the Monte- 
zumas." General Scott, on that day. effected 
the landing of his array at Sacrificios, an 
island seven miles west of Vera Cruz. The 
landing was made in sixty-seven surf boats, 
each holding seventy-five men, under cover of 
the guns of our fleet, commanded by Commo 
-dore Conner, with those brilliant naval officers. 
Commodores Perry and Tatnali, in command 
of squadrons of his fleet. Scott's army, upon 
landing, numbered 13,000, rank and tile. 
He established his lines on the north and 
east fronts of Vera Cruz on the same day. 
He planted five siege batteries, built of sand- 
bags, within a thousand yards of the walls of 
the city. One of the batteries was mounted 
with 8-itich ship's guns, and manned by sailors 
from the fleet. A demand for the surrender 
of the city having been made and refused, our 
guns opened fire on March 22d, and for three 
days and nights rained the red ruin of 
avenging war upon it. On the morning of the 
25ih, General Landero, commanding the Mex- 
ican garrison of the city and the castle of San 



Juan d' UUoa, sent in a flag of truce with over- 
tures of surrender. 

He at first proposed to surrender the city 
alone. General Scott refused this, de- 
manding ■ the castle also. This demand 
was finally acceded to, and the surrender of 
the Mexican army at Vera Cruz, 8,000 strong, 
was formally made on March 29, 1847, when 
we entered in triumph the beautiful city of the 
'• true cross.'' 

On April 8th our army took itp its line of 
march along the national road for the capital 
of Mexico, distant 280 miles. 

On April 14 we found ourselves in the pres- 
ence of the army of Santa Anna, 20,000 strong, 
posted on the lofty heights of Cerro Gordo. 
The mountain ridges on which he had taken 
position had been thoroughly fortified by 
that entt^rprising, though cruel, subtile and 
faithless Mexican general, and they completely 
commanded the route to the capital. At the 
instance, and under the direction of that un- 
surpassed and stainless soldier, Gapt. Robert 
E. Lee, of the Corps of Engineers, a road 
was cut through the dense forest on tvhe 
enemy's left, so as to enable us to take his po- 
sition in reverse. This work occupied three 
days, and while it was in prcgress, on the after- 
noon of the 17th, the enemy attacked our 
working parties and were repulsed with loss, 
a part of Twiggs' division, under Col. Harney, 
of the dragoons, pressing them back to the 
summit of the ridge. 

Oil the morning of the 18th, at dawn, we 
attacked in force, that gallant Irishman and 
unquailing soldier, Gen. James Shields, com- 
manding our column of attack, on the Mexi- 
can left, with a view to cut his line of re- 
treat. In three hours the army of Santa 
Anna was routed. The battle was done, and 
far up on the crest of the mountain range 
where the eagle lives alone, through the drift- 
ing clouds of smoke, the white stars of our 
country's banner shone serenely on their blue 
field. Our loss was 97 killed and 408 wounded, 
while' that of the enemy was about 1,400 in 
killed and wounded and 3,000 prisoners. Har- 
ney's Dragoons pursued the enemy hotly, and 
sabred their scattered columns for fifteen 
miles along the road to Jalapa. At that city 
the army of Scott was reduced to about 6,000, 
by the mustering out of the greater part of his 
volunteer forces, which had enlisted for one 
year, their term of service having expired. 

Leaving Jalapa, on the 21st, we captured 
Perote and its strong castle, a full bastion 
work of 80 guns, on the 22d ; and after halting 
there to rest for a few days, we took Puebla, 
the chief manufacturing city of Mexico, with 
a population of 75,000, on May 15, after a de- 
sultory fire from the enemy in its streets. 

Here (reneral Scoit was obliged to lose sev- 
eral months awaiting reinforcements from 
home. Every day's delay increased our haz- 
ard, as the enemy was collecting a vast army 



8 



and fortifying along every approach to his 
capital. At length, on the morning of August 
7th, 1847, our army moved out of Puebla on 
its march for the city of Mexico, all our bands 
playing the Star Spangled Banner. 

It numbered then about 10,000, of all arms, 
consisting of four divisions, namely : 

First Difision — General Worth. — Ist brig- 
ade, Col. Garland; 2d and 3d regiments of 
artillery, 4th infantry, and Duncan's battery. 
2d brigade, Col. Clarke; 5th, 6th, and 8th in- 
fantry. 

Second Division — General Twiggs. — 1st 
brigade, Gen. P. F. Smith; mounted rifle 
regiment, 1st artillery, 3d infantry, Taylor's 
battery. 2d brgade, Col. Riley; 4th artil- 
lery, 1st infantry, 7th infantry. 

Third Division — General Pilloio. — Ist 
brigade, Gen. Cadwalader: 11th and 14th in- 
fantry and voltigeurs. 2d brigade. Gen. 
Pierce, 9th. 12th, and ISthtflfantry. 

Fovrth Division — General Quitman. — 1st 
brigade. Gen. Shields; South Carolina volun- 
teers, New York volunteers. 2d brigade, 21 
Pennsylvania volunteers, detachment of U. S. 
marines. 

The cavalry force of the army was under 
command of Bvt. Brig. Gen. Wm. S. Harney, 
and comprised detachmeatsof the 1st, 2d, and 
3d Dragoons. 

After a toilsome march of eighty miles, 
across mouutain ranges and along a rugged 
and broken road, the army, on the afternoon 
of August 17. 1847, looked down for the first 
time on the valley of Mexico, and on its mag- 
nificent capital, with the golden crosses of its 
160 churches glittering in the light of the set- 
ting sun. There lay before us tbe same lake, 
mirroring tbe same snow-crowned mountains 
in its glassy bosom, on which Cortez, with his 
steel clad warriors, had gazed in the same 
month 326 years before. There, too, stretched 
out the same c>iuseway, over which the knights 
of old Spain had charged, with their battle-cry 
of St. Ingo, the devoted forces of the doomed 
MontPzuinH. In order to avoid the formida- 
ble fortress of El Penon, that commanded 
the a()pri)Mch by the national road to the city, 
General Scott, after reaching a point, within 
nine mile-* of the city, ordered tlie array to 
couniermnrch, with a view to turn the lake on 
the south. This required a march of about 
twenty eight miles, which was effected over 
roads deemed impHSsable by the enemy, and 
on August 18ih the entire army was concen- 
trated at ihe town of St. Augustine, about ten 
miles (rom the city of Mexico. The enemy 
were then distant about five or six miles, at 
Contreras, a strong position held by General 
Valencia, with a Mexican force about 8,000 
strong, wiih fortifications mounting twenty-six 
guns. These General Scott determined to 
take in reverse, which was done effectually by 
a night march of eight miles, over the pedre- 
gal orA'olciinic ground, hitherto deemed im- 



practicable for any army. At sunrise on the 
20th the assault was made on the rear and 
flanks of the enemy by Riley's, Cadwalader's, 
and Shield's brigades, all under the com- 
mand of General Persifer F. Smith, whom 
General Shields, though outranking him, had 
magnanimously permitted to retain the com- 
mand that he might carry out dispositions 
made prior to the arrival of Shields on the 
ground. The whole line of entrenchments 
was stormed and the battle won in seventeen 
or eighteen minutes. The enemy broke at the 
first assault, and fled in the direction of the 
city, but hundreds of them were captured by 
the New York volunteers and the Palmetto 
Regiment, of Shields' Brigade, that had been 
posted for the purpose of cutting oflF their re- 
treat. 

At this battle two guns of the 4th artillery, 
that were lost, without dishonor, at Buena 
Vista, were recaptured from the enemy. Old 
artillerists, who were with them when they 
were lost, kissed and hugged them with de- 
light at their recovery. The army, after rest- 
itig a few hours, marched against the main 
body of the enemy, then occupying a vast in- 
trenched cump at Cherubusco, about eight 
miles from the city. We were soon in pres- 
ence of the Mexican army, 30,000 strong, com- 
manded by General Santa Anna, composed of 
the best troops of Mexico, embracing several 
thousand volunteers, the very flower of her 
chivalric youth. 

The battle began at noon and ended at sun- 
down, with the cotuplbte defeat of the enemy. 
We captured 5,000 prisoners and 86 pieces of 
artillery. Cherubusco, in fact, was a series of 
four distinct battles, fought against as many 
independent fortified positions, and, with that 
of Contreras, made five distinct victories won 
on the same day by the American nrmy — less 
than 9,000 — engaged against -.'.n aggregate force 
of not less than 38,000. Our loss during that 
day was about 1,100 killed and wounded; 
while that of the Mexican army, in killed, 
wounded, and prisoners, was not less than 
7,000. Among the gallant spirits of our army 
who went up to God from that stricken field — 
1 trust that I will be pardoned for naming 
alone my old commander, Col. Pierce M. 
Butler, of the Palmetto Regiment, one whose 
martial form and benign face are ever present 
in my memory. General Scott well wrote of 
him, a few days after the battle: "A soldier 
from his youth up, by his death he has added 
another illustrious name to the long line of 
South Carolina's departed heroes." 

Time will not permit me to chronicle the 
deeds of heroism done at Cherubusco, but yet, 
among the many, 1 must note one of the most 
daring that has passed into history. When, 
in the final charge upon the enemy's work, 
known as the tete dii jjont, or bridge head, the 
way was blocked by a burning ammunition 
wagon that threatened a destructive explosion, 



9 



Sergeant A. M. Keiiaday, of the 3d Dragoons, 
attached to Worth's escort, now ihe worthy 
secretary of our National Association, sprang 
from his horse and, calling three of his men to 
his aid, actually threw the burning packages 
of gunpowder into the river below, thus 
saving many lives and enabling our charging 
columns to advance. The dragoons, under 
Harney, followed the flying enemy fast and 
far; and the daring Major Phil. Kearny, with 
a hundred dragoons, not hearing the recall 
sounded, or. rather, not heeding it, pursued 
them up to the walls of the city, sabreing gun- 
ners at its very gate, where he lost his right 
arm, and returned mounted behind one oF his 
soHiers. 

We were prevented from advancing to the 
city on that evening by the arrival of a flag of 
truce from Santa Anna, who proposed an ar- 
mistice of twenty days, on the declared ground 
that a treaty of peace was pending between 
the two republics. General Scott assented, 
on the novel, and to us important condition, 
that he should be allowed to send a train into 
the city of Mexico and there purchase supplies 
for his army. This was accordingly done. 

On September 6th, General Scott declared 
the armistice at an end, having discovered that 
it was a mere scheme, on the part of the wily 
Mexican general, to gain time, thus enabling 
him to reinforce his army and strengthen his 
fortifications, which he had been doing ever 
since the armistice commenced. 

At daylight on September 8th, we again ad- 
vanced upon the enemy. Santa Anna, with his 
army, occupied Molino del Rey, or the King's 
Mills, a series of massive stone buildings, sur- 
rounded by high wails, about one mile and a 
half west of the ensile of Cbapultepec, and 
about three miles from the city, tiis force 
consisted of 12,000 men and 24 pieces of ar 
tillery. Our attacking columns consisted of 
3,400 men, wiih Drum's, Euger's, and Dun- 
can's batteries, the last named composed of 
two 24- pounders, the whole commanded by 
General Worth, the Marshal Ney of the army. 
We attacked in three columns. After a brief, 
but severe cannonade, our centre column, of 
500 men, under the command of Major Wright, 
advanced lo the assault, and, although met 
by a severe tire of artillery and musketry, took 
the enemy's battery in their tronl, but the 
Mexicans, seeing their small number, rallied 
in f 'Tce and, delivering a destructive volley, 
drove this column back. Cadwalader's right 
wing, together with Stewart's rifles, that had 
been lefi. to support Huger's battery, now en- 
tered the battle at the centre of our line. Thus 
reinforced, we quickly broke the enemy's line 
at tlie centre, isolating his two wings. Gar- 
land's brigade, assisted by the effective 6re of 
Drum's battery, attacked the enemy's left, 
and, after some desperate fighting, we drove 
him fiom his seeming impregnable position, 
firing his own captured guns into his broken 



and retreating columns. While our right and 
centre were thus engaged, Col. Mcintosh as- 
saulted the Casa Mata, a strong stone citadel, 
or half bastioned work, on the enemy's right, 
aided by Duncan's heavy battery and a com- 
pany of voltigeurs. The enemy abandoned 
Casa Mata, and the day was won. In propor- 
tion to the force engaged this was for us the 
bloodiest battle of the war. We had 9-50 killed 
and wounded, among them sixty five officers. 
The Mexican loss was 2,000 killed and 
wounded, and 8-50 prisoners. 

The victory was important, as Molino del 
Rey was the principal cannon foundry in 
Mexico, and its guns also commanded some 
of the approaches to the castle of Chapulte- 
pec. This castle was a strong fortress of ma- 
sonry, mounting 16 guns, and was occupied 
by General Bravo with about 2,500 regular 
soldiers together with 300 cadets, for it was 
the National Military Academy of Mexico. It 
was situated on the crest of a steep, rocky 
height, which rose 150 teet above the road be- 
low. About midway of the ascent was a strong 
redoubt, and below that a heavy stone wall, 
with a banquette, each running around nearly 
the entire front and well manned with troops. 
Our batteries opened fire on the castle early 
on the morning of the r2th September, and by 
night had made several wide breaches in its 
walls. 

At 6 a. m , on the 13th, our columns moved 
to the assault. The entire army was brought 
into action, except a part of Worth's division, 
which was held in reserve near Molino del 
Rey. On our charginjg columns swept, the reg- 
ulars attacking on the west face and the vol- 
unteers under Quitman and Shields on the 
east, while Smith's brigade wheeled to the 
southeast and carried a battery at the foot of 
the slope. 

In a whirlwind of fire from cannon and mus- 
ketry that swept down the hill that was every- 
where ablaze with the flashing guns of the en- 
emy, our men pressed forward, our artillery 
in the road beiow firing over their heads as 
they advanced. Another desperate rush and 
our bayonets sparkled at every breach. They 
sprang into the breaches, and soon the flag of 
the First New York Volunteers floated out 
above the battlements, with its inspiring motto, 
"Excelsior," and announced that Cbapulte- 
pec was ours ! 

Worth's division pressed the enemy on his 
principal line of retreat in the direction of the 
Eastern or San Cosmo Gate of the city. 

Scott, intending to make his main attack at 
this point as the most vulnerable, ordered 
Quitman to make a feint and occupy the at- 
tention of the enemy at the Garila de Belen 
on the west. Quitman moved rapidly with his 
division along the causeway, carrying battery 
after battery as he went, determined to con- 
vert his intended feint into a real attack and 
win a victory in violation of orders. Far to 



10 



the front, springing from arch to arch of the 
huge stone aqueduct, the Palmetto Regiment 
and Stewart's company of regular rifles were 
intermingled in their approach to the well-for- 
tified gate, firing rapidly as they advanced. 

Drum's battery of three pieces then soon gal- 
loped rapidly to the front and opened a rapid and 
effective fire, which was at once replied to by, 
the enemy, with at least twentv heavy guns. In 
a few minutes nearly every officer and man of 
this splendid battery was killed or wounded. 
Its chivalric commander lay in the road with 
both thighs shattered by a cannon-ball, but 
true to the line of his duty, living and dying, 
he called out to the infantry in the arches : 
"For God's sake, save my guns!" They 
quickly responded, and met the advancing foe 
with the bayonet, driving them back and fol- 
lowing them into their works; and the last 
sound that reached the ears of the noble Cap- 
tain Simon Drum was the "stout of victory 
from his comrades at the gate. 

The magnificent infantry of Smith's and 
Pierce's brigade also were delivering their de- 
structive fire at the enemy on our front and 
flanks, and at twenty minutes past one o'clock 
on the afternoon of September 13th, 1847, the 
Palmetto flag of South Carolina was planted 
on the walls of the city of Mexico, the first 
foreign ensign that had waved over that spot 
since Hernando Cortez on August 13th, 1521, 
had there unfurled the royal standard of Spain. 
Our further advance was checked at the Belen 
Gate by the fire of a citadel with eight guns 
about three hundred yards within the walls. 
Its commander, General Flores, later in the 
afternoon, ofi'ered to surrender, on condition 
that Quitman would give him a receipt for all 
his ordnance, quartermaster and commissary 
stores. This was finally assented to. That 
Mexican should be regarded as the champion 
rcd-tapeist of the world. The citadel surren- 
dered the next morning at sunrise. 

Worth's division, after a desperate resist- 
ance, drove the enemy from every position at 
and around the San Cosmo Gate, and at eight 
o'clock on the night of the 13th bivouacked 
within the walls of the city. At about noon 
on the 14th the entire army was united in the 
main plaza or great square of Mexico, and the 
stars and stripes were soon unfurled in all their 
glory above the halls of the Montezumas. 

We had conquered the capital of Mexico, 
and with six thousand American soldiers we 
stood triumphant amid its hostile population 
of near two hundred thousand souls. 

After the fall of the capital, Santa Anna 
colleeied the scattered fragments of his beaten 
army, and, early in October, attacked our 
garrison at Piiebla, which consisted of the 
First Pennsylvania Regiment, under Colonel 
Childs. That command occupied Fort Loretto, 
in the western suburb of the city, and made a 
gallant and successful defence during an active 
siege of twenty days. Santa Anna had sum- 



moned the garrison to surrender, stating, with 
his usual lying tactics, that he had utterly 
routed the army of General Scott. That state- 
ment, Colonel Childs replied, had "no truth 
in it." Santa Anna drew oS" his forces, about 
5,000 strong, on learning of the approach of Gen. 
Joseph Lane, who was advancing from the 
coast with needed reinforcements for Scott's 
army. Soon after this, on October 21, 1847, 
a portion of General Lane's force, under the 
j command of the renowned Texas ranger. Col. 
i Sam Walker, of the District of Columbia, al- 
though but 350 strong, attackei and routed 
I about 2,000 of the enemy at Huamantila. This 
victory was dearly purchased. While Walker 
was rallying his command to pursue the flying 
I enemy he was mortally wounded by a shot fired 
j from the roof of a house. There was an afi'ec- 
j tion full of romantic beauty between him and 
I the celebrated ranger, Capt. Addison Gillespie, 
who fell in the charge at Monterey. Gillespie's 
I last words were, " Bury me under the cotton- 
t wood trees, near the Alamo, in San Antonio, 
j and tell Sam Walker good bye for me." 
Walker's last words were, "Carry me to San 
Antonio, and bury me in the same grave with 
Addison Gillespie." The two immortal ran- 
I gers rest together in the land they loved so 
well, companions in glory and the grave. They 
were friends in life, and in death they were 
not divided. 

On January 24th, Capt. Henley, with his 
command of 200 Missourians, attacked a body 
of 500 Mexicans at Moro, and defeated them. 
That gallant soldier also fell in the moment of 
victory. The closing battle of the war was 
fought by Gen. Sterling Price, at Resales, New 
Mexico, on March 16, 1848. He there de- 
feated, with but 250 Missouri volunteers, a 
force of nearly 1,000 Mexicans, under com- 
mand of General Trias, killing about 300 and 
capturing their commanding general, with 42 
other officers, and 11 pieces of artillery. No 
more knightly soldier or braver and truer 
man than Sterling Price ever struck the last 
blow in his country's cause. 

The Mexican war was ended by a ti-eaty of 
peace, 'loncluded at the hacienda of Guadalupe 
Hildalgo, on February 2d, 1848. Peace 
was proclaimed by President Polk, July 4th, 
1848. In this necessarily rapid and imperfect 
sketch of the salient events of the war, I 
have had to omit, comrades, even the name 
of many an unforgotten hero. It was no holi- 
day war. It was replete with toilsome and 
weary marches, with blistered and bleeding 
feet, through hot sands, under a tropical sun, 
and over jagged rocks and snowy mountain 
ranges, where horses and riders perish d with 
cold. 

It had its many dark days, when the soldier 
was faint with hunger and his tongue parched 
with thirst. It was lull of nameless tragedies, 
both on bloody fields, in front of many a bat- 
tery's smoking guns, and in the deeper gloom 



11 



( 



of the fever stricken hospitals, where the living, 
in their anguish, envied the deep repose of 
the dead, 
I will notattemptto describe the grand scenery 
of Mexico, its wondrous climate, or- the end- 
less variety of its agricultural products. As 
early as 1804, the great Humboldt wrote of it: 
"All the climates and all the products of the 
earth can be found here." 

Least of all will I attempt, in such an assem- 
blage of battle-scarred veterans, to describe 
the fair women of Mexico. With them we 
had no battles, but yet must confess that we 
had with them many warm ejigagement.f in 
whicb we were always compelled to surrender 
to their arms. 

But these things belon-j; to the d^ar, dead 
summers of the heart They come back like 
blight phantoms, robed in airy drapery, to 
visit the silent halls of memory, where once 
again the veteran of 1846 beholds, with ardent 
gaze, tlie joyous " fandango " of Mexico. 

" Where the Klances ofTier virgin.-; were ever archls 

deep, 
And their dark eyes ever full of passion :ind of 

of sleep." ' 

In that memorable war, comrades, which 
lasted two and a half years, we fought j 
seventy battles and engagements without the j 
final loss of a single gun or American ensign. 

Engaged always against heavy odds, we ! 
bore the honor of this great republic triumph- 
antly on the points of our ever-advancing I 
swords and bayonets, on fields — j 

" Ploughed deep with hurrying hoof and wheel, 
Shot-sown and bladed thick with steel !" ! 

Blended with this honorable reflection we 
proudly recall the fact that we marched nearly 
four thousand miles through the country of an 
enemy, alien to us in race, language and relig- 
ion, and performed no act to wound the 
modesty of woman or sully the sanctity of her 
person. The blaze of no defenceless home- 
stead lighted up our line of march, and no 
vesper bell ceased to sound because of our 
coming. 

We were always merciful in the hour of vic- 
tory, aud while we vindicated the prowess of 
our country, we illustrated its civilization. 

T/nis should it always have been, and thus 
may it ever be with the American soldier! 

What have been the material results of that 
victorious war? 

By our arms, our country won the vast ter- 
ritories of California, Utah, Nevada, Colorado, 
New Mexico, and Idaho, and made it easy to 
acquire Arizona for a merely nominal sum. 
We thereby added one million square miles, 
or H 10,000,000 of acres to the territory of 
the United. States, nearly doubling its area. 
According to authoritative statistics there has 



been taken from the mines and rivers of the 
territories thus acquired, since 1848, gold and 
silver of the value of $3,000,000,000. Aver- 
aging the soldier at 140 pounds, this amount 
is sufficient to award to every soldier, actually 
engaged ir. the battles in Mexico, were even 
all now living, his weight in pure gold. Of 
the 85,000 men who participated in those bat- 
tles, less than 6,000 survive. This fact is 
attested by a most careful census of the sur- 
vivors. Yet we are told, in the discussion of 
the bill so lonj; pending, to pension the vete- 
rans of the Mexican war, that " too many are 
still living" to warrant the granting of pen- 
sions to aid in maintaining them in their 
declining years. This is tbe base economy of 
ingratitude. Such an objector could only be 
satisfied by a proviso in the bill, that it should 
not take effect during the lifetime of any vet- 
eran, and the amount appropriated should be 
covered into the treasury of the United States, 
upon the death of the last survivor. May the 
feeblest of you comrades survive the Congress- 
man who makes this objection and live many 
years after he has beheld the slow but cer- 
tain justice of his country fully vindicated 
against the fat-ribbed advocate of lean appro- 
priations for disabled veterans of the nation's 
wars. 

During this reanicn, comrades, of soldiers ■ 
who parted nearly thirty-six years ago on fields 
afar, one subject has been conspicuous by its 
absence. There has been no allusion to the 
war which transpired among us since that part- 
ing — a war which shook this great Republic 
from center to circumference, with the tread 
of more than a million of armed men ! On 
the part of veterans of the Union army, this 
has been the silence of magnanimity, worthy 
alike of the noble victors and the heroic van- 
quished. Let that war only be recalled with 
a deep sense of gratitude to an overruling 
Providence, that to-day all our countrymen 
dwell contented under one glorious flag. 
Speaking for the ex confederate soldier of the 
South, 1 here declare, with all the solemn 
sanctity ot a judicial oath, that whatever bis 
political party, he is true to the flag of his 
country. If he ever dreams of future wars, 
it is with the fervent hope that be, may yet 
live to bear the ensign of the Union into lands 
that have never been sheltered under its be- 
neficent folds, and among a people who have 
never felt the power of our eagle's beak. 
Henceforth the Union and Confederate vete- 
rans will be in peace friends, and in war 
brothers in arms. _ --■ -■ - — 

After Judge Mackey concluded, the band 
gave the National airs of Mexico and the 
United States, while the guests on the plat- 
form showered congratulations upon the orator. 
A vote of thanks was passed by acclamation. 



12 



At the Grand Banquet, which concluded the 
proceedings of the reunion. Judge Mackey was 
called upon to respond to the Vlllth toast, 
and we quote his remarks in this connection : 

VIII. "Woman ! — Her voice is the music of 
the march of life. She carries the only arms 
to which the American soldier will ever sur- 
render." 

RESPONSE BY T. J. MACKEY, OF THE PALMETTO 
REGIMENT. 

Mr. President and Comrades : "Woman 
as a toast, or otherwise, is a most difficult and 
delicate subject to deal with. This is the last, 
in order, of the regular toasts. It was proba- 
bly made lant upon the theory of Louis the 
Fourteenth, of France, that " there is a woman 
at the bottom of everything.^' She has cer- 
tainly been the impelling force of every benign 
movement in every age and clime. 

I do not accept as true the statement of 
some historians, that a chivalric respect for 
woman is the outgrowth of civilization. On 
the contrary, the annals of race development 
attest that a gentle consideration and respect 
for woman must^^recec^e every high civilization. 

Satan himself, in the garden of Eden, paid 
a lofty tribute to her moral pre-eminence over 
man. Archangel as he was, and though fal- 
len, with all the brightness of an archangel's 
intellect, he went in person to tempt 7ier. Nor 
did even he venture to hold out before her any 
base allurement ; knowing the purity of her 
nature, he beguiled her with the assurance that 
if she ate of the fruit of the tree, which was in 
the midst of the garden, she would be as one 
of the gods, knowing good and evil. But when 
Adam was to be tempted, no archangel was 
wasted upon him. Satan knew that he would 
fall at sight. He doubtless persuaded Eve to 



give him some of the fruit, and then basely 
volunteered his testimony against her. Many 
of Adam's descendants have done the same 
vile thing — a clear case of hereditary trans- 
mission of a criminal propensity. 

The traditions and annals that have come 
down from the early Christian church inform 
us that in the days of persecution many men 
recanted their profession of faith in Chris- 
tianity at the stake, but no woman ever re- 
eanted. Faithful until death, wrapped in the 
martyr's robe of fire, she went up to God. In 
suffering for a great principle she has always 
proved herself superior in fortitude to man, 
who is naturally a compromiser. 

The history of every age and of every civil- 
ized land bears witness that no good cause 
ever found its betrayer in a woman. 

" Not she with traitorous kiss her Savior stung, 
Not she betrayed him with unholy tongue ; 
She, while Apostles fled, could danger brave, 
Last at His cross, and earliest at His grave." 

She is man's special providence and chief 
moral safeguard, walking by his side to coun- 
sel, comfort and sustain. Her voice is more 
than the music of the march of life, for the cor- 
dial "well done!" from her iipsand the trust- 
ing clasp of her hand furnish the richest re- 
ward for life's most honorable victories. Grate- 
ful, indeed, ought we to be to the Giver of all 
good for having made woman what she is. If 
she were a degree higher in the scale of being 
she would be too pure for man's companion- 
ship, while if she were a little lower she might 
not sutSce for the necessities of man's mental 
and moral natures. As it is, she is — 

" A being not too pure and good 
For human nature's daily food. 
And yet a spirit still, and bright 
With something of an angel's light." 



Coiuiiiittee on Prograiiinie. 

Oflacers or IVatloiial A-ssociation. 

GEN. JAMES W. DENVER, President. 

GEN. MAHLON D. MANSON, First Vice-President. 

GEN. A1.BERT PIKE, Vice President, D. C. 

GEN. T. T. CRITTENDEN, Vice-President, D. C. 

CAPT. S. V. NILES, Treasurer. 

COL. ANTHONY H. REYNOLDS, Marshal. 

ALEX. M. KENADAY, Secretary. 



Executive Comniitlee of Arrangements. 

X^ocal A-Ssoclatioii. 

CAPT. S. V. NILES, Chairman. JUDGE. T. J. MACKEY. 

GEN. J, W. DENVER. COL. JAMES WALKER. 

GEN. E. F. BEALE. GEN. WM. HENRY BROWNE. 

CAPT. RICHARD T. MERRICK. DR. CLARENCE DE MONTREVILLE. 

GEN.' T. T. CRITTENDEN, ALEX. M. KENADA.Y, Secretary. 



Orator of tlie Day. 
Hon. Tlioiiias J. Miacltey. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




011 896 989 3 # 



OFFICERS UF THE 



NA IIONAI. ASSOCIATION OF VETE- 
RAX«OF HEMEXICAX WAR. 



Beitnioit at WasUiiijjlon I'ity, Dec. 6, 

and 8, 1^«^3. 



PitESiDEN'T — James W. Denver. Washing- 
ton, D, C. 

FiiisT Vice-Presiuen"t — M. D. Manson, 
Crawfordsville, Ind. 

Secuetaky — Alex. M. Kenaday, P. 0. box 
37, Washington, D. C. .■ 

Treasurek— S. V. Niles, Washington, D.C. 

Marshal— Anthony H. Reynolds,- Philadel- 
phia, Pa. 

Headquarters — Washington, D. C: ad- 
dress P. 0. box 37. 

T. p. AND C. OF a. of .STATES, ETC, 

U. S. Army— General Winfield Scott Han- 
cock, General George W. Getty. 

U. S. Navy — Commodore James E. Jouett, 
Commodore S. P. Quackenbush. 

U. S. Marine Corps — Colonel John L. 
Broome, Major William B. Slack. 

Revenue Marine Service-^Captain Osmond 
Peters, Captain John ?vIcGowau. 

Alabama— J. R. Cotfey, Wm. Vinson. 

Arkansas— J. F. Pagan, J. C. Peay- 

California — Richard P. Hammond, Wm. 
Blanding. 

Colorado — William Gilpin, Lafayette Head. 

Connecticut — L. Woodhouse, A. A. Hodge. 

District of Columbia — Albert Pike, T. T. 
Crittenden. 

Georgia— A. H. Colquitt, W. S. Walker. 

Illinois— Ferris Forman, P. T. Turnley. 

Indiana- J. B. Cravens, S. L. McFadin. 

Iowa — B. F. Egan, Nicholas Greusel. 

Kansas— E. N. 0. Clough, M. McCann. 

Kentucky — S. S. Fry, Thomas H. Taylor. 

Louisiana— John Purcell. D. M. Hollings- 
worth. 



Maryland — Jos. A. Ruddach, D. G. Mur 
ray. 

Massachusetts — I. H. Wright, H. A. Me- 
Gleuen. 

Michigan— A. T. McReynolds, D. McCon- 
nell. 

Minnesota — Edmund Rice, Francis Pete- 
ler, 

Mississippi — R. H. Malone, L. H. Murpbree. 

Missouri— 7A. B. Pearson, Clay Taylor. 

Nebraska-^Amasa Cobb, John Elliott. 

Oregon — J. H. Egan, Washington AUeti. 

Nevada — J. B. Moore, A. B. Thompson. 

New Hampshire — T. P. Pierce, T. J, 
Whipple. 

New Jersej — J. E. Nuttman, Joseph 
Evans. 

New York — Henry Gaines, J. E. Kerrigan. 

North Carolina — John L. Cantwell, James 
Riley. 

Ohio — J. F. Chapman, A. J. Robertson. 

Pennsylvania — Robert Klotz, C. F. Sargent. 

Rhode Island— Wm. E. Prince, Q. S. A., 
Nelson Viall. 

S. Carolina— T. J, xMackey, W. B. Stanley. ' 

Tennessee — B. F. Cheatham, J. W. Branson. 

Texas — S. B. Maxey, A. J. Dorn. 

Virginia — J. F. Milligan, W. B. Taliaferro. 

Washington Territory — R. H. Milroy, Colo- 
nel H. A. Morrow, U. S. A. 

West Virginia— G. A. Porterfield, N. N. 
Hoffman. 

W^isconsin — Colonel Wm. Chapman, U. S. 
A., Louis Nettan. 

Alaska — John W. Egbert, John Carry. 

New Mexico — James H. Stuart, Jerome A. 
Johnson. 

Indian Territory — E. J. Brooks, J. F. 
Simpson. 

Arizona — Wm. S. Oury, Charles Murray. 

Dakota — W. G. McSpadden, Merrick Moore. 

Idaho — T. S. Harris, George Martin. 

Motitana— T. J. Eckerson, U. S. A., N, L. 
G. Soward. 

Utah — P. E Connor, Jefferson Dawes. 

Wyoming — Geo. D. Jenks, R. D. Darling- 
ton. 



